Ontario boy’s rap gets endorsement from Justin Bieber

CTV Toronto
Published Saturday, December 22, 2012 6:42PM EST

The Internet’s eyes are on an Ontario boy, after pop superstar Justin Bieber praised his rendition of “The Little Drummer Boy” on Twitter.

Jayden Anderson’s parents were proud of their 10-year-old son when he broke out a flawless version of Bieber’s rap in his cover of “The Little Drummer Boy” during his school’s Christmas concert in Markham, Ont.

Like any proud parents, they filmed it and posted the video on YouTube.

The next morning they woke up to discover they weren’t the only fans of their son’s performance.

“The following morning I woke up to a lot of bells and whistles on my BlackBerry. I looked at my BlackBerry and saw messages from Justin Bieber fans saying, ‘Justin Bieber sent me here,’” said Anderson’s father, Kevin.

Bieber, who has more than 31 million followers on Twitter, had noticed Anderson’s performance and tweeted a glowing review.

“This kid Jayden killed it! Nice,” Bieber tweeted.

Fast forward a couple of days and the performance has garnered more than 87,000 views.

Bieber’s endorsement has even prompted Anderson to consider a future career as a rap artist.

“My plans are, I’m going to rap. But I’ve also got to focus on my education. I need a good education so I can get a scholarship,” he said, specifying that he would like a “sports” scholarship.

Anderson has previously been noticed for his athletic feats.

Media outlets featured stories about Anderson for a daring diving catch he made during one of his baseball games.

Now, armed with new online fans and the support of his family, Anderson has just one message for Bieber.

“I just wanted to thank him for tweeting me, because he actually made me famous,” he said.

This isn’t the first time Bieber has endorsed Canadian talent. About one year ago Bieber tweeted about British Columbia native Carly Rae Jepsen. Jepsen’s video for “Call Me Maybe” has more than 360 million hits on YouTube.